Credit union development: Financial inclusion and exclusion

For a special edition of Geoforum on socio-spatial exclusion, credit unions unexpectedly have it all-a financial institution currently at the margins of both the economy and society generally, rigid demarcation of boundaries, exclusionary territories and tendencies, power relations, and most excitingly the possibility for a geography of financial inclusion. Whilst most analyses have effectively treated credit unions as unsocial, uncontested spaces of purely economic considerations, this paper enters into the interrelational, and social space of the credit union study group. In so doing, it illustrates two interesting paradoxes at the heart of credit union operations. Firstly, it suggests a number of potential exclusionary effects recent deregulatory legislation has on the demarcation of common bond boundaries. Secondly, it illustrates how common bond boundary construction initiates a purification of financial space, but argues that the act of boundary formation itself is ultimately exclusionary in nature. Awareness of such issues on the part of the credit union development community of Kingston Upon Hull is-highlighted through recent changes in the city's overall credit union development strategy. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.